menu_book Chapter 17

Chapter 12, Part 2 of Life and Times of Joseph Warren by Richard Frotherham. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Samuel Adams now wrote to Dr. Young, I think our countrymen discover the spirit of Rome or Sparta. I admire in them that patience, which, you have often heard me say, is characteristic of the patriot.

Inter arma silent legis. I have written to our friends to provide themselves, without delay, with arms and ammunition, get well instructed in the military art, embody themselves, and prepare a complete set of rules, that they may be ready, in case they are called to defend themselves against the violent acts of despotism. Surely the laws of self-preservation will warrant it in this time of danger and doubtful expectation.

On the afternoon of the day of the publication of these resolves, the Provincial Congress appointed a committee to consider what was necessary to do for the defense and safety of the province. I need not present in detail the proceedings on this report or the doings of the Congress.

The debates for several days were long and earnest, but there is no report of the speeches. The deliberations resulted in the adoption on the 26th of a series of resolves which provided for the creation of a Committee of Public Safety as a sort of directory to take care of the Commonwealth, which may be summed up as an

authority to organize the militia and to provide military stores when they should take the field. The resolves also provided for officers to command this force. On the next day, the Congress elected, by ballot, nine of its members to compose the committee, choosing first three from Boston and then nine from the country. They elected Hancock, Warren, and Church from the town, Richard Devins of Charlestown, Benjamin White of Brookline, Joseph Palmer of Braintree,

Norton Quincy, who declined, Abraham Watson of Cambridge, Azor Orne of Marblehead. Subsequently, John Pidgeon of Newton, William Heath of Roxbury, and Jabez Fisher of Rentham were added. The Congress next elected five commissaries who were called a committee of supplies, David Cheever, Moses Gill, Jeremiah Lee, Benjamin Lincoln, and Benjamin Hall. Three general officers were then chosen,

Genediah Preble, Artemis Ward, and Seth Pomeroy. On the 28th, Congress passed the resolve, inviting the constitutional members of His Majesty's Council of this Colony by the Royal Charter, chosen last May, to meet with the Congress at their adjournment, and on the 29th appointed Henry Gardner, Receiver General, to receive the usual revenue for the use

of the province at the hands of the constables, collectors, and other persons. The Congress appointed a day of public thanksgiving, in particular from a consideration of the Union, which so remarkably prevailed, not only in the province, but throughout the continent at this alarming crisis. The Congress on the 29th adjourned until the 23rd of November. It declined to take action on the formation of a new government and adhered strictly to the recommendations of the

Continental Congress. Warren's name occurs on committees from the commencement to the close of the session. He now began a great service as a member of the Committee of Public Safety, the executive of the colony. It met on the 2nd of November at Cambridge and organized by the choice of John Hancock as chairman, but he did not attend the next session, and Warren's name stands on its journal at the head of the list of members present at this meeting. The committee

voted to purchase provisions for an army, and at the second meeting on the 8th, they voted to procure all the arms and ammunition which they could of the neighboring provinces. On the evening of the next day, Cushing and the two Adamses came into the town from Congress, where the people testified their joy at their safe arrival by ringing the bells, some of them till midnight. Hancock did not attend the next meeting of the Committee of Safety on the 15th when it was voted to have

seven large pieces of cannon carried out of Boston. Warren, in behalf of the Committee of Donations, now replied to a letter from the Committee of Middletown, Connecticut, which enumerated things that roused their attention and zeal and induced them to unite with their brethren throughout the continent. They said the claim of Parliament was enforced by the grossest violation of royal faith in tearing up by the roots the ancient charter of Massachusetts and by all the

evils of Pandora's box let loose in the new form of government imposed upon the people. The reply to this spirited letter is as follows. Reply to Middletown, Boston, November 17, 1774. Gentlemen, your kind letter of the 17th of October came safe to hand. When we reflect on the great importance of the controversy in which we are engaged, when we consider that America will be free and happy or severely wretched,

according as we conduct ourselves, we tremble. But that we are contending for our rights, that the continent supports us, makes us confident and determined. The plan which has been so long concerted to deprive America of her rights seems now to be executing, and that the ministry have chosen the town of Boston as their first victim. That we are sequestered from all America for a criterium by which they shall determine how far the idea of despotic government is compatible with the sentiments of free-born Americans gives us no concern, because the spirit which is discovered in Middletown has diffused itself through the continent.

Many have been the devices, subtle have been the schemes, and lo the artifices, made use of to sow distension and division. But the virtue of our country has risen superior to them all, and we see a band now formed which will encourage our friends and confound our enemies. The ministry have hitherto kept the people of Great Britain ignorant of the true state of America. They have by bribes and falsehoods deceived the nation. Truth and justice were never so effectually enveloped in the thick clouds of calumny and detraction.

The mercenary writers they have employed to misrepresent, vilify, and abuse the Bostonians afford us a striking instance of the base methods they pursue to ruin us. We have, however, the best grounds to think that the tide is turning in our favor. The eyes of the people of Britain begin to be opened. The coolness, temper, and firmness of the Americans' proceedings, the unanimity of all the colonies in the same sentiments of their rights and of the injustice offered to Boston,

and the patience with which those injuries are at present born, without the least appearance of submission, have a good deal surprised and disappointed our enemies, and the tone of public conversation, which has been so violently against us, begins evidently to turn. This is the language of as good a friend as America has in England, and whose authority we can rely on. And, if this most desirable change had taken place before the proceedings of the American Congress were known in England, what may we expect upon their being known?

Had not the present ministry discovered such rancor and such malice in their proceedings in respect to America, we should expect everything to our wishes. But we have had such full demonstration of their diabolical designs against us, that we can look for nothing from them but what our own virtue and spirit can extort. The regular, firm, and spirited conduct of the continent, if they should even fail of success,

will eternally redound to their honor, and should they meet that success which their cause merits, they must be the happiest people on whom the sun shines. The propriety and zeal with which the town of Middletown have treated the indignity which is offered to their country seems to be a renewing that glorious ardor which warmed the breasts of their progenitors. It is a disposition which has heretofore been attended with prosperity.

The support which they have formerly so liberally afforded the town of Boston in their sufferings demands our warmest gratitude. This recent instance of their good wishes for our success, and the readiness and forwardness which they discover to do everything in their power for maintaining and preserving the rights of their country, and for supporting and feeding any who are immediate sufferers by the vengeance of their enemies, cannot fail to excite gratitude from every friend to the rights of mankind,

and from the town of Boston in particular. We are not insensible, although there is a probability that our grievances will be redressed, that everything yet depends on our own virtue and resolution. Great patience, vigilance, and public spirit are still necessary. The point has been so long and so strenuously contended for that our enemies will never give it up till they are compelled by the last and most unavoidable necessity. Our cause is so just, and we are so

sensible how necessary it is to defend it, that we have no doubt, but, with the blessing of heaven upon us, and upon the many good friends engaged for us, we shall be able to hold on and hold out until oppression, injustice, and tyranny shall be superseded by freedom, justice, and good government. And we cannot but flatter ourselves that while we are contending for justice for ourselves, we shall be instrumental in calling back that virtue which of late years has fled from

the councils of our parent country. We are, gentlemen, your friends and obliged humble servants, Joseph Warren, per order of the Committee of Donations. P.S. We have just now, by Captain Shepard from London, received His Majesty's proclamation for dissolving the late Parliament of Great Britain, whose conduct respecting America will be remembered with horror through all succeeding generations. To the Committee of Correspondence for the town of

Middletown. Warren, four days after penning this magnetic utterance, sent a remarkable letter to Josiah Quincy, Jr., who was in London. He was a kindred spirit and closed his Observations on the Port Bill in the following strain. America hath in store her Brutai and Cassi, her Hamptons and Sydneys, patriots and heroes who will form a band of brothers,

men who will have memories and feelings, courage and swords, courage that shall inflame their ardent bosoms till their hands cleave to their swords and their swords to their enemies' hearts. His biographer, imprinting Warren's letter, remarks that lose their lives in defense of it. The passages I have put in italics are placed by Bancroft at

the beginning of one of the chapters of his history. To Hosea Quincy, Jr., Boston, November 21, 1774. Dear Sir, as nothing interesting which I am at liberty to communicate has taken place since your departure from home, except such matters as you could not fail of being informed of by the public papers, I have deferred writing to you, knowing that, upon your first arrival in London, you would be greatly engaged in forming your connections with the friends of this country

to whom you have been recommended. Our friends who have been at the Continental Congress are in high spirits on account of the Union which prevails throughout the colonies. It is the united voice of America to preserve their freedom or lose their lives in defense of it. Their resolutions are not the effect of inconsiderate rashness, but the sound result of sober inquiry and deliberation. I am convinced that the true spirit of liberty was never so universally diffused through all ranks and orders of people in any country on the face of the earth as it now is through all North America.

The Provincial Congress met at Concord at the time appointed. About 260 members were present. You would have thought yourself, in an assembly of Spartans or ancient Romans, had you been a witness to the ardor which inspired those who spoke upon the important business they were transacting. An injunction of secrecy prevents my giving any particulars of their transactions, except such as by their express order were published in the papers. but, in general, you may be assured that they approve themselves the true representatives of a wise and brave people, determined at all events to be free.

I know I might be indulged in giving you an account of our transactions, were I sure this would get safe to you, but I dare not, as the times are, risk so important intelligence. Next Wednesday, the 23rd instant, we shall meet again according to adjournment. All that I can safely communicate to you shall be speedily transmitted. I am of opinion that the dissolution of the British Parliament, which we were acquainted with last week,

together with some favorable letters received from England, will induce us to bear the inconvenience of living without government until we have some farther intelligence of what may be expected from England. It will require, however, a very masterly policy to keep the province for any considerable time longer in its present state. The town of Boston is by far the most moderate part of the province.

They are silent and inflexible. They hope for relief, but they have found from experience that they can bear to suffer more than their oppressors or themselves thought possible. They feel the injuries they receive. They are the frequent subject of conversation, but they take an honest pride in being singled out by a tyrannical administration as the most determined enemies to an arbitrary power.

They know that their merits, not their crimes, have made them the objects of ministerial vengeance. We endeavor to live as peaceably as possible with the soldiery, but disputes and quarrels often arise between the troops and the inhabitants. General Gage has made very few new maneuvers since he left us.

He has indeed rendered the entrenchments at the entrance of the town as formidable as he possibly could. I have frequently been sent to him on committees and have several times had private conversations with him. I have thought him a man of honest, upright principles

and one desirous of accommodating the difference between Great Britain and her colonies in a just and honorable way. He did not appear to be desirous of continuing the quarrel in order to make himself necessary,

which is too often the case with persons employed in public affairs. But a copy of a letter via Philadelphia said to be written from him to Lord North gives a very different cast to his character. His answer to the Provincial Congress, which was certainly ill-judged, I suppose was the work of some of that malicious group of harpies, whose disappointments make them desirous to urge the governor to drive everything to extremes.

But, in this letter, if it be genuine, he seems to court the office of a destroyer of the liberties and murderer of the people of this province. But you have doubtless read the paper, and thought with indignation on its contents. I wish to know of you how affairs stand in Great Britain, and what was the principal motive of the dissolution of Parliament. If the late acts of Parliament are not to be repealed, the wisest step for both countries is fairly to separate. and not spend their blood and treasure in destroying each other.

It is barely possible that Britain may depopulate North America, but I trust in God she can never conquer the inhabitants. And, if the cruel experiment is made, I am sure, whatever fortunes may attend America, that Britain will curse the wretch who,

to stop the mouths of his ravenous pack of dependents, bartered away the wealth and glory of her empire. I have not time to say more at present than to assure you that from this time you may expect to hear from me, news or no news, by every vessel, and that my earnest wish is that your abilities and integrity may be of eminent service to your country. I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant, Joseph Warren. General Gage's letters now show that he realized the import of the political unity which had been reached by the patriots.

On informing Lord Dartmouth on the 15th that he had issued a proclamation declaring the provincial Congress an unlawful body and tending to riot and rebellion, he said that it had been encouraged to go to the lengths it had gone by the General Union and the readiness of the New England provinces to appear in arms and that the proceedings of the Continental Congress astonished and terrified all considerate men. A few days after Gage had issued his proclamation and

when, according to his representation, all considerate men were in terror the Provincial Congress on the 23rd of November reviewed its session. It invited John Adams and Robert Treat Payne to attend the meetings, the other delegates to the General Congress, Cushing and Samuel Adams, being members. It is not necessary to relate here in detail the proceedings of this body. The political center was now the Grand American Congress, and the chief committee of the session

was the one appointed to consider its doings. Joseph Hawley was the chairman, and the other members were Samuel Dexter, Joseph Warren, Jeremiah Lee, James Warren, Elbridge Gerry,

and Benjamin Church. Their report was a grateful endorsement of the proceedings of the General Congress and an adoption of the Association and recommending the people to observe it.

This body continued the preparatory work of defense but went no farther. On the last day of the session, December 10th, a report which had been made on the question of assuming civil government was taken up, considered, and ordered to lie on the table. This Congress issued an address to the inhabitants, briefly explaining and urging the measures that

had been adopted. It presented the general intelligence from England, together with the increase of the army and navy, as exciting the strongest jealousy that the system of colony administration, destructive to American liberty, was to be pursued, and to be attempted with force to be carried into execution. In a tone alike solemn and elevated, it said, You are placed by providence in the post of honor because it is the post of danger, and while struggling for the

noblest objects, the liberties of your country, the happiness of posterity, and the rights of human nature, the eyes, not only of North America and the whole British Empire, but of all Europe, are upon you. It is added, let us therefore altogether solicit us that no disorderly behavior, nothing unbecoming our characters as Americans, as citizens, as Christians, be justly chargeable to us. Warren was now serving in the Committee of Correspondence, which continued its vigilant

watch of passing events. The following note is copied from the original in his handwriting, dated two days after the adjournment of Congress. Boston, December 12, 1774. Gentlemen, we think it our duty to inform you that one of the transports sailed from this port yesterday in the afternoon with several hundred soldiers on board. There are various conjectures concerning her destination, but it is generally believed she is designed for Newport, and that the troops are to take

possession of the fortress there. The vigilance of our enemies is well known. They doubt not the bravery of our countrymen, but if they can get our fortresses, our arms, and ammunition into their custody, they will despise all our attempts to shake off their fetters. We are convinced that you will do what prudence directs upon this important occasion, and are, with great esteem, your friends and humble servants. Several town meetings were held in December in Boston,

on political affairs. Warren was placed on the inspection committee, created to carry into effect the Association of the Continental Congress, on a committee to prepare a vote of thanks to the colonies for the contributions made for the poor of the town, and on another to frame an answer to General Gage. On the 30th of December, he was chosen delegate to the second provincial congress. In the records of the Committee of Safety, he is named on a committee to inspect the commissary's

doors in Boston. Warren was now engaged in the various duties, town, provincial, and national, by which the Patriots as a party were carrying on their work. Though there was, strictly speaking, neither local nor general government, yet the majority of people in most of the colonies was so decisively arrayed in support of the measures of the Patriots that the recommendations, both local and general, were obeyed as rigidly as though they had the authority of law.

The Tory party was now uncommonly active in Boston and elsewhere. Its organs denounced the patriots as hypocrites, independents, Republicans, sowers of sedition, and rebels. It had long been said in Boston by adherents of this party that the local charter or constitution was based on principles

much too democratic and subversive of all peace, good order, and government, and ought to be annihilated. It was said in the British House of Commons by Lord George Germain that there could not be a better thing than to do away with town meetings, and he would bring the Constitution of America as similar to the Constitution of England as possible. He said that the Massachusetts was

governed by a tumultuous and riotous rabble, and he would not have men of a mercantile caste every day collecting themselves together and debating about political matters, for they ought to follow their mercantile employment and not trouble themselves with politics and government which they do not understand. A divine said from his pulpit in Charleston, South Carolina, that mechanics and country clowns had no right to dispute about politics or what kings, lords,

and commons had done or might do. These citations show the spirit of the party which now ruled England, which had sympathizers in the colonies and claimed the right of legislating, in all cases whatsoever, for America, and the regulating act was the assertion of this right. But the United Colonies demanded a repeal of this act, as well as of other acts conceived in a similar spirit. Warren wrote that, if this were not done, the wisest step for both countries was to separate

and not spend their blood and treasure in destroying each other. And Franklin said to the ministry that the colonies must risk life and everything rather than submit to the claim of altering the local laws and charters at will. The United Voice of America urged, and even commanded,

the people of Massachusetts to resist to the bitter end the new law. It was the vote of Congress on the 8th of October, pledging the fate of the colonies to Massachusetts that hardened George III to listen to no terms. The tone of the Whigs on the adjournment of the Continental Congress

was exultant in the extreme. The Union's step of instituting committees of correspondence had grown into the national measure of the Association for Non-Importation, Non-Exportation, and Non-Consumption. It is not necessary to discuss the question

whether these were sound or wise measures to carry out on the eve of a war. It was a great statementship to attain the result of United Councils. It was soon related in the journals that committees were appointed in almost every seaport from Georgia to New Hampshire to observe that the Continental Association be complied with in every article therein recommended. At this time, the Congress aimed neither at independence nor at civil war,

but for redress of grievances and a restoration of harmony with the mother country. The point fairly reached was that of a party supporting a real American union. The feeling of the hour was nowhere more earnestly expressed than in the utterances from South Carolina. Be comforted, ye oppressed Bostonians, and exult, ye northern votaries of liberty, that the sacred rays of freedom, which used to beam from you on us,

are now reverberated with double efficacy back upon yourselves from your weaker sister Carolina, who stands foremost in her resolution to sacrifice her all in your defense. Again, many thanks to the worthy Congress re-echos from the generous breasts of grateful thousands. O glorious day! O happy union! From Nova Scotia to Georgia, one mighty mind inspires the whole. When I consider the unanimity, the firmness, the wisdom of our late representatives, I feel a joy unutterable and an exultation never felt before.

It would be easy to fill pages with similar citations from the newspapers of other colonies. The following is extracted from a glowing communication in the Pennsylvania packet. The American Congress derives all its power, wisdom, and action, not from scrawled parchments signed by kings, but from the people. A freeman, in honoring and obeying the Congress, honors and obeys himself. I almost wish to hear the triumphs of the Jubilee of the year 1874, to see the medals, pictures,

fragments of writings, etc., that shall be displayed to revive the memory of the proceedings of Congress in the year 1774. If any adventitious circumstances shall give precedency on that day, it shall be to inherit the blood, or even to possess the name, of a member of that glorious disassembly. This language marks the hour of an outburst of genuine Americanism, when a great party were inspired with the purpose of freeing their country by a change of administration from

the control of a party who claimed the right, not merely to mold their forms of government, but to monopolize the fruits of their labor. For what purpose, Lord Carnathan asked, in the debate on the regulating act were they, the colonists, suffered to go to that country unless the profits of their labor should return to their masters here. Union meant resistance to this arrogance and mastership. It meant more. It meant action in behalf of rights common to humanity.

The great utterances of Congress are pervaded by the spirit of universal liberty. The words of the representative patriots of that time, whether they came from a Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina and Alexander Hamilton of New York, a John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, or a Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, were broad and decisive. All are summed up in the words of Washington, who was soon to be the representative of his country. He pronounced the issue to involve

the most essential and valuable rights of mankind. The hour had its symbol. On the first American flag was inscribed the motto, liberty and union. In this spirit, Warren and other popular leaders were conducting affairs in Massachusetts. Neither this province, Washington now said, nor any other province desired separately or collectively to set up for independence, but, he added, none of them will ever submit to the loss of those rights and privileges without

which life, liberty, and property were insecure. In this spirit of self-preservation, and by the advice of a body whose voice was as the voice of American law, the local popular leaders went on during the winter with the work of military preparation. Meantime, the donations flowed into Boston, and the letters which accompanied them continued to be on the rising tenor. One of them from Durham, New Hampshire, addressed to the Boston Committee was printed. What you receive,

the Durham Committee say, comes not from the opulent, but mostly from the industrious yeomanry in this parish. We have but few persons of affluence, but they cheerfully contributed. This is considered by us not as a gift or an act of charity, but of justice to those who are bravely standing in the gap between us and slavery, defending the common interest of the whole continent. We can with truth assure you, gentlemen, that in this quarter we are engaged to a man in

your defense, and in defense of the common cause. We are ready to communicate of our substance largely as your necessities require, and with our estates to give our lives and mingle our blood with yours in the common sacrifice to liberty. Throughout the province, ordinary minds gave way to the duty which engrossed all minds and stirred all hearts, for the great business of the hour was organization, in compliance with the recommendations of the Continental and the Provincial Congresses.

The inhabitants in their several towns now signed agreements to meet for military drill, elected officers, and entered into pledges to obey, at a minute's warning, a summons to take the field. These bands of citizen soldiers, on parade days, repaired to the churches, where the village pastor prayed for strength from on high, and the village Hamdens uttered the exhortation to fight to the last, if need be, for the ancient liberties. The national spirit of the time is

embodied in the following song, which is ascribed to Warren and was printed this year in the newspapers. A song on liberty to the tune of the British Grenadier. That seat of science, Athens, and earth's proud mistress, Rome, where now are all their glories, we scarce can find their tomb. Then guard your rights, Americans, nor stoop to lawless sway. Oppose, oppose, oppose, oppose for North America. Proud Albion bowed to Caesar and numerous hosts before, to Picts, to Danes,

to Normans, and many masters more. But we can boast Americans have never fallen a prey, huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, for free America. We led fair freedom hither, and lo, the desert smiled, a paradise of pleasure now opened in the wild. Your harvest pulled, Americans, no power shall snatch away. Preserve, preserve, preserve your rights in a free America. Torn from a world of tyrants beneath this western sky, we formed a new dominion, a land of liberty.

The world shone we're freemen here And such will ever be Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, huzzah For love and liberty God bless this maiden climate

And through her vast domain May hosts of heroes cluster That scorn to wear a chain And blast of enal syncopants Who dare our rights betray

Assert yourselves, yourselves, yourselves For a brave America Lift up your hearts, my heroes, and swear with proud disdain The wretch that would ensnare you shall spread his net in vain Should Europe empty all her force would meet them in array

And shout huzzah, huzzah, huzzah for brave America The land where freedom reigns shall still be masters of the main In giving laws and freedom to subject France and Spain And all the isles or oceans spread shall tremble and obey The prince who rules by freedom's law in North America.

End of chapter 12, part 2.